The San Jose police chief blasted California’s sanctuary city policies Tuesday after a previously deported illegal immigrant with a long rap sheet was arrested for murder in the brutal stabbing of a 59-year-old woman.
Chief Eddie Garcia said the murder of Bambi Larson, who was killed inside her home Thursday afternoon, demands that police and the county have an honest conversation over the refusal to honor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer requests for violent criminals.
“This isn’t about politics, this is about public safety,” Garcia said during a press conference Tuesday, during which he also spoke about the arrest of 24-year-old Carlos Eduardo Arevalo Carranza. “He could have been turned over six times.”
Garcia said his officers first made contact with Arevalo Carranza, who is believed to be
homeless, when he was arrested for alleged methamphetamine possession. He was cited and released KTVU reported.
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Erik Bonnar, an acting field office director for ICE, said Arevalo Carranza had been previously deported by Homeland Security from McAllen, Texas in 2013. At some point, he returned to the U.S. and has since been arrested numerous times on suspicion of committing offenses including
burglary, battery, false imprisonment, possession of methamphetamine and
prowling.
In the Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties, the 24-year-old had been arrested six times – the most recent for allegedly possessing methamphetamine and paraphernalia in January.
"How many more people have to be killed or injured before California lawmakers will open discussions to revise the state policy prohibiting local law enforcement agencies from working with ICE to apprehend dangerous criminal aliens?" Bonnar said in a statement. "It’s unfortunate that our communities face dangerous consequences because of inflexible state laws that protect criminal aliens. These sanctuary policies have unintended, but very real, and often tragic consequences to public safety."
California’s sanctuary law – signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017 – largely prohibits local enforcement from keeping illegal immigrants in custody at the request of federal immigration officials.
Garcia said ICE had placed a detainer order for Arevalo Carranza, however, it was repeatedly ignored by Santa Clara County due to its sanctuary policies.
He said San Jose police do not request immigration status while making an arrest, but that ignoring detainers and releasing inmates from custody who have committed serious crimes undermines the city’s safety.
"The City of San Jose and our police department has no control over how the county interacts with federal immigration enforcement or deportation of violent or serious felons like Carlos Arevalo Carranza," Garcia said. "Those policies are not set at our level."
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